Deception
by Loopstagirl
Summary: Merlin wasn't the only one able to hide things. And sometimes, just sometimes, Arthur knew when to keep his mouth shut.


_Disclaimer: I own nothing, all rights belong to their respective owners._

_This started of as a Camelot_Drabble prompt and then I extended on it a little bit to make it a one-shot. Hope you like!_

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The attack had come out of nowhere. One moment they had just been riding through the forest, bickering like usual when a sound had caught Arthur's attention and he had signalled for them to stop. Merlin being Merlin had either ignored or misunderstood the signal (or perhaps both) and had carried on until Arthur had reached out and grabbed the horse's reins for himself. The silence that should had fallen afterwards only confirmed his fears. They weren't alone in the forest, and whoever it was approaching was doing so in a very deliberate manner.

Arthur had just swung himself down from his horse when he found he was surrounded by bandits. He didn't stop to think, wrenching his sword free from his belt and whirling around to face the attack. He was vaguely aware of Merlin scrambling down from his horse.

"Get out of here!" Arthur yelled as he blocked an attack, driving his assailant back but becoming more and more aware that there were men closing in from all directions. Just as he drove his sword through one of them, causing him to topple with a surprised look on his face, the prince heard Merlin yell. He turned to find one of the bandits was holding a sword against Merlin's throat and Arthur could only roll his eyes. Yanking free his knife, he threw it with deadly precision, freeing his servant at the same time as killing the man. He sprinted forward, pressing his spare sword into Merlin's hand with the sharp command that the man was to stay alive or Arthur would have him in the stocks.

He made to turn back to the rest of the fight but the few seconds it had taken was enough for the rest of them to close in on him again. Arthur fought hard, yet all it took was a lucky hit in the end. One of the bandits caught Arthur in a glancing blow across his face and as he stumbled back, another's foot drove deep into the centre of his stomach. Winded and unable to correct his balance, Arthur stumbled backwards, hitting the tree behind him with far more force than he intended and causing his head to smack against it hard. He was vaguely aware of Merlin yelling something, but was too busy trying to stop his vision from swimming to work out what. He took a step forward, and the ground rushed up to meet him as blackness claimed him.

He heard Merlin screaming his name before he passed out, losing himself to oblivion for a while. How long he was out for, Arthur wasn't sure, but he could still hear the sounds of fighting going on around him as he gradually returned to alertness.

His eyes opened just a crack, the pounding in his head reminding him of the blow that he had just taken. Waking up didn't seem like a good idea, but the alternative was leaving Merlin at the mercy of the bandits. Arthur knew that he wasn't always the most caring of masters, but even he didn't like the idea of staying out cold to wake up to his manservant's mangled body in a few hours' time.

He could hear the jeering laugh of the men and knew that he might already be too late. Carefully, trying not to draw attention to himself due to the fact that sitting up was a challenge (Arthur was adamantly refusing to think about the fact there would be very little he could actually do to help considering he was having trouble moving), the prince managed to use the tree as a support in order to force his protesting body into an upright position.

Arthur could see that Merlin was surrounded. The sword he had thrust into his servant's hands when they realised that the attack was coming was _outside_ of the circle that the lanky man was in the centre of and Arthur was hard pushed not to groan. He really needed to work on Merlin's self-defence skills when they got out of this, especially if he couldn't even hold onto a sword for any length of time. It seemed that his threat of putting the man in the stocks had once again fallen on deaf ears. Arthur blamed it on the blow to his head that he was sitting in the middle of a bandit attack wondering what threat would get through to his servant. A noise from in front of him drew his attention back to what was happening and he forced himself to keep still.

All of the bandits were armed, their swords pointing into the circle and keeping Merlin trapped. Now and again, one would jab forward, looking as if they were going to run the servant through. Arthur knew he should be astonished that Merlin wasn't even flinching, but somehow, it came as no surprise.

"Get on your knees, _boy."_

"No."

Arthur bit his lip. Part of him loved the fact that Merlin wouldn't go down without a fight, but he also knew these kinds of men. They were going to make him regret defying them. There was no way that Merlin could win, he was unarmed and surrounded. For once, Arthur just wanted the man to make it easier on himself this time, but something told him that wouldn't be the case. Merlin never made it easy on himself, and seemed to have a bad habit of goading people who were supposed to have him at their mercy. It was the type of thing that Arthur knew he would do, but his status offered him some protection. Most of the people they went up against wouldn't simply kill the Crown Prince, he was worth too much. But they wouldn't have any qualms about dispatching a servant who couldn't keep his mouth shut.

The only thing that stopped Arthur revealing he was awake was the fact that, despite the odds, Merlin was still here now to be doing it again. He should have been killed ten times over, and yet had somehow escaped each and every situation. Arthur knew if he let on that he was conscious, they would have hold of him in seconds. While being awake, he knew that he was in no state to fight right now so just remained slumped against the tree.

"Do as we say. You are unarmed. Don't be a fool."

"Who says I need to be armed?" There was something cold and calm to Merlin's voice, something that sent shivers down Arthur's spine. He had never heard Merlin sound like that before. It was as if his clumsy servant had been replaced with something almost sinister.

The bandits all laughed again, clearly believing that they had their prize and were looking forward to enjoying their spoils. Arthur felt sick, and he wasn't entirely sure that it was all to do with the blow to his head. He knew what these sort of men would do to Merlin, especially for back-chatting them. But Merlin was just standing there, as calm as he ever was. Arthur thought he looked like the centre of a storm somehow. It was as if there was all this power whipping around him, yet he alone remained unaffected by it. One of the bandits made to step forward, and that is when it happened.

Merlin's hands rose in front of him and Arthur at first believed it was some last attempt at defending himself. He was right…and at the same time he was so wrong. Merlin was defending himself, just not in the manner that the prince believed. The bandit didn't take another step before he was blasted backwards. Merlin hadn't so much as touched him, yet Arthur knew that he was the one who had caused the flight. The rest of the men all shifted, until another started forward in anger. This time, it wasn't just him that went flying but the men standing to either side of him. The others cast dubious looks at each other.

"I did warn you," Merlin said quietly and Arthur felt himself shiver at the sheer power in his servant's voice.

Merlin had magic.

That was the only explanation for what had just happened.

His most loyal servant, his best friend, had magic. Arthur felt his head whirl and was almost glad that he didn't have the strength to stand up. Merlin wouldn't have ever told him, Arthur was aware of that much. Why else would he wait until his friend was supposedly unconscious before defending himself? Arthur shivered again, realising that Merlin would have let anything happen to him if it meant keeping Arthur safe. And if keeping the prince safe meant hiding who he really was… Arthur realised that amongst his anger and fury (he was refusing to admit fear) over what he had just seen, he had just learnt how loyal Merlin truly was.

As he sat there, slumped and barely conscious, watching his hopeless servant casually defend them both against the rest of the bandits, Arthur realised that his anger was gone. He was losing the fight to stay conscious, but he almost didn't mind. He trusted Merlin to keep him safe, for he realised that this wasn't the first time the servant would have done so. He could pass out now, for he knew that Merlin was safe and didn't need him for protection.

And somehow, Arthur didn't mind. It was almost as if he had accepted what he had seen almost before his brain had finished processing the events playing out in front of his mind. What did it matter if Merlin had magic? At least that meant Arthur didn't have to drag him to the training ground in order to try and get him to at least attempt to defend himself.

As the final few bandits turned and ran, Arthur could sense Merlin beginning to turn towards him. Rather than let Merlin know, Arthur took that moment to simply pass out.

Merlin would tell him when he was ready, yet now was clearly not the time. Arthur knew that if Merlin was caught unawares, then he would simply close up and refuse to say another word. Arthur knew that would lead to frustration on both sides and no doubt result in an argument that had him saying things that he didn't meant to say. But if Merlin approached the topic himself, and realised that Arthur wasn't reacting the way he was clearly afraid the prince would, then maybe he would be able to come clean about precisely why he had been hiding for all of these years.

But now was not the time. Now was the time that Merlin shrugged off what happened and invented some story about a wild boar chasing the bandits away or something absurd. Arthur tried to ignore the flickering of hurt deep within him that his servant was so afraid of being discovered he would allow himself to be ridiculed for an idiot rather than coming clean, but Arthur knew there was nothing he could do. Not until Merlin decided the time was right.

So as his servant crouched down beside him, Arthur stopped fighting against the blackness and surrendered to it, knowing he was safe.


End file.
